Mt Kagerō
by Lux Remanet
Summary: A rumor and the desire for redemption drives a young man to search for it in the most unlikely of places: the treacherous mountains of the undead. Dealing with the zombie horde, as he had anticipated, had been the easy part. SasuHina Fantasy AU.
1. i

_a/n: So I...wrote this for another crack pairing awhile back but I scrapped it in favour of a SasuHina fantasy AU where Sasuke is a disgraced dragon rider and Hinata's an elf. It's in drabble format because I wanted to challenge myself...and because I sadly don't have the energy to make this a full length fic :/_  
><em>Review if you'd like, but there's <span>really no need to<span>. _

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><p>"Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly."<p>

~Neil Gaiman, _The Sandman, Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections_

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><p><strong>Part i.<strong>

The steed has shown, but the rider is nowhere to be found.

This is the first thing Sasuke thinks while he swallows the rest of the water in his mouth and slides a gloved hand through the dirt toward Kusanagi, lying at his side. He remembers Naruto telling him about the legend behind the name, and a smile tugs at his lips. Whether it is from the matter being a pleasant coincidence or a potentially dramatic irony, he doesn't know. All he _does_ know is that he hasn't had much reason to smile for a long while.

The chase begins.

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><p>He has spent weeks no, definitely months in Mount Kagerō, and he is quite certain he's gone mad for doing so. His supplies have dwindled to naught. His skin beneath his armour is cracked and blistered from insect bites. He stinks something foul enough to make even the dead pinch their noses in protest but he refuses to bathe. The scent of any living man or thing draws the undead horde like flies to a feast. He needs the mountain to forget his intrusion.<p>

And it seems as if it has, if his quarry has decided to make itself known.

* * *

><p>As a dragonrider, Sasuke's never found horses particularly useful. They're slow. They cannot fly. Oh, they'll get one where one needs to be, but not like the wings of a dragon can. This irony isn't lost on him while he stares, transfixed, at the white stallion approaching the stream. It's larger than any horse he's seen, clad in magnificent white armour with violet trimming. The little light that manages to filter through the trees casts a brilliant glint from it. He shields his eyes. Not from the intensity, however.<p>

Hope, Itachi has taught him, is always both beautiful and dangerous.

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><p>The only thing that can give him away is his heart pounding wildly in his chest. As if hearing his thoughts, the creature's ears prick in awareness: standing still as a deer that senses when a hunter has it in his sights. The forest becomes so silent he's almost tempted to forget about the horrors that dwell within. The pain in his thighs becomes close to unbearable. He tries to shift to alleviate it—<p>

A twig snaps loudly beneath his boot.

Cursing, Sasuke wrenches his gaze back. His eyes lock with the creature's, for a brief, terrifying moment.

It bolts.

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><p>He'd heard a rumor in passing, about a mysterious forest spirit capable of granting absolution to those beyond saving. Those, Tsunade claimed, like him. Though Sasuke rationalizes the tale is just childish folly, even he cannot shake the feeling that—barring the undead hordes who 'try' to ambush him daily—he is being observed, judged somehow.<p>

The first time was in the midst of battle, he remembers. On the brink of being overwhelmed in the corner of his eye, hidden amongst the trees—was the unmistakeable glint of white armour.

_Remember why you're here_, he'd told himself.

He conveniently forgets.

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><p>The hoofprints had been his first clue, and they led to nothing—if one counted the edges of cliffs and mountain walls. He always seems to forget this: the desire to redeem himself overrides everything else. If there's a way…if there's light waiting at the end of this bleak tunnel—he is taking it. He prays for it, prays like he never has before.<p>

On his three-hundred and thirty-eighth day here—as carved on a flat slab of rock—he is cupping water to his mouth when he hears a soft whinny.

It's the most glorious sound he's ever heard.

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><p>Sasuke Uchiha, level headed Commander of the Dragon Riders is madness incarnate as he tears after the creature: storming through the forest's undergrowth, vaulting over felled trees, trying not to stumble over roots protruding from the earth. The weight of his armour which has never hindered him now suddenly makes him feel as if he is wading through waist-deep muck. His indifference to horses quickly turns to intense dislike. For every step he takes, the steed steals five. The forest ends. He bursts through a clearing—<p>

—only for the back of a gauntlet to strike him full in the face.

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><p>The restrained force behind the blow tells him his attacker only means to disorient, but Sasuke rolls back into a defensive crouch anyway. There's a snicker and he whips his head up to glare. Thankfully, he has his helm to hide his expression because it switches to utter bafflement immediately afterward.<p>

_What business does an elf have here?_

He realizes he's inadvertently stated this aloud when the smile on her face disappears and she's suddenly lunging at him, her sword drawn. It seems he has offended her, something he takes issue with because well…

…she is as beautiful as Sakura.

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><p>She's no Sakura, but she could definitely conquer kingdoms with her. Especially with that poisonous snarl on her face; a look like that can send his own men scattering. Though apologising for his earlier remark is not beneath him—his whole reason for being here is atonement, as a matter of fact—she seems disinterested in words, and is more concerned with letting her sword do the talking. He obliges her—no, he is forced to oblige her because if he does not, she is very likely going to cut him to ribbons.<p>

'Hope is beautiful and dangerous,' Itachi said.

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><p>Though she is armoured like a knight, she definitely does not fight with the honour of one. Or is it because she doesn't deem him worthy of honour because of his earlier comment? These thoughts run through his mind after she seizes a fistful of dirt and hurls it at him. The sting to his eyes however, does not hurt as much as the blow to his pride when he is unceremoniously tackled and pinned roughly to the forest floor with her sword resting against his pulse point. She smiles and finally speaks.<p>

"I could ask you the same thing."


	2. ii

a/n: So...after writing this I have just learnt that I:  
>1) brotp these two. Hard.<br>2) am not ready for the last Hobbit film.

Thanks for reading! Eight more to go!

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><p><strong>Part ii<strong>

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><p>It's a simple question but the memories that flood his mind almost render him speechless.<p>

"My reasons are mine and mine alone."

"You don't know," the elf sighs, pushing herself away from him. She extends her hand toward the stallion.

"_Shachi_."

Her voice is gentle: barely a command; more of a whisper. The steed comes nonetheless. She runs her fingers through its mane and presses their foreheads together, whispering as she does so. Then it dissipates, leaving white lilies in its wake.

_Is she the forest spirit? _

She glances over her shoulder, amused. "Do I _look_ like one to you?"

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><p><em>There is really no right or wrong answer to that question<em>, Sasuke thinks idly days later while he watches her simultaneously carve and burn a path through the undead. She is a precision instrument: not wasting a single strike, not attacking from the same place too long.

_Almost like…_

"Where're you looking!"

Her sword just barely misses his ear, hitting a tengu square in between the eyes. Her tone is gentle when she chides him, which is why it stings all the more.

"Do not follow if you plan to throw away your life."

"I'm not," Sasuke snaps.

"Show me."

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><p>Despite her soft murmurs the stallion refuses to budge. Sasuke hears a sigh escape her before she turns, frustrated. He can't help but smirk. She seems almost human.<p>

"I'm no forest spirit, but I can help you."

"Generous," Sasuke scoffs. "But I don't need your help."

"Do you know where to start."

"I'm here, aren't I?"

Sasuke tenses when she approaches. She reaches out, places a hand against his heart. The warmth he feels is strange, but not entirely unfamiliar.

"The journey begins here. What is broken can be fixed."

He stalks off when she says that.

Hope is dangerous.

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><p>"Your horse," Sasuke begins, when they are sitting around the fire. "You called him Shachi."<p>

Her eyes become grey ice crystals as she stares into the fire and he knows he's hit a sore spot. "Because that's his name."

"Do you believe in coincidence?"

"You mean do I believe in fate."

Sasuke chuckles. She's sharp, this one. "You know of the legend then."

She shifts uncomfortably. "I know people create symbols to give themselves something to believe in."

"What do you think about that?"

"I '_think'_ I'm not as concerned about it as you are."

He backs off—for now.

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><p>It's almost daybreak and he's been listening to the final crackles of the embers from the campfire when a soft weight lands atop his breastplate.<p>

"Fresh clothes from a travelling vendor," she explains gently, in the middle of drying her hair when he opens his eyes. "There's a waterfall not far from here. Don't worry about being attacked—Shachi will keep watch."

Sasuke's lips tighten. He dislikes—no, _despises_ pity. "You did not have to go through the trouble."

"Actually, I did."

"Why."

She looks at him like he's said the most ridiculous thing in the world. "You smell."

_Elves_.

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><p>She likes to stare. Constantly and unabashedly and probably with disapproval when she watches him go through his exercises.<p>

As is typical for an elf.

"Something on my face?" Sasuke finally snaps. It's been weeks since that 'what is broken' speech and nothing. She hasn't done a single thing to help him—

"So you _do_ want help,"

He glares as he processes that statement. "You were _waiting_?"

"Admitting you want help is the first step toward receiving it," she answers with a smile.

_You little shit lord. _

"_Fine_," Sasuke grouses. "I want help. Now what?"

Her smile widens. "Now _ask_."

* * *

><p>Elves, no matter their age, gender, or physical or mental impairment —should <em>never<em> be underestimated. The wise live by this mantra and survive, and Sasuke would probably get himself _eviscerated_ if he'd ever met _this _ælfen while he was still…

Outside of battle she is almost docile. Exactly like other elves, but there's an extra element. Something to explain why he keeps winding up on the receiving end of a shield uppercut. She smiles, extends a hand…

…only for him to get blindsided by another shield uppercut.

Then he realizes.

She's doe-eyed but she is no deer.

She's a lion.

* * *

><p>"Yield."<p>

On his back Sasuke glares while she casts a shadow over him where she stands. "_Never_," he hisses.

"Then the forest shall do the same." And this is no attempt on the elf's part to sound cryptic—she speaks the truth: only the worthy may leave Kagero in peace. But this is not what fuels Sasuke's ire.

It's the fact that no matter how vehement his tone, never once does she get angry. He'd honestly prefer it over the look of quiet resignation— _disappointment_ in her eyes.

It reminds him too much of his father.

Of Itachi.

Of '_her'_.

* * *

><p>He reaches his four hundred and twenty-ninth day not entirely unscathed but miraculously alive.<p>

Time, he realizes, has always been his most effective teacher. The first thing he does when he finally finds her again—and understandably with her blade raised in defence—is bow his head. The universal gesture of defeat and acceptance.

"I can't let go. Forgetting my past is pretending it never happened. I may be many things: oathbreaker, kinslayer, _fool, _but I am no coward."

"Then what is left for me to teach?" she gently challenges.

Sasuke does not even hesitate.

"How to live with it."

* * *

><p>She leads him through hell, has him confront unimaginable horrors and complete trials that make him question his own sanity, but they don't bother him as much as the realization that he <em>doesn't even know her<em> _name._

He stares at her back, expectant.

_I know you're listening._

She smiles over her shoulder. "Beat me in a race, _dragon rider_, and I'll tell you." There is a glade in the distance which she points to. "First to reach—"

Sasuke is away before she even _thinks_ to finish that sentence.

"Hinata," she concedes, smiling brightly.

"Sunflower," Sasuke translates.

_Should have thought._


End file.
